Can somebody break down the Castlevanias on 32bit for me
What I mean is, can somebody list all the Castlevania games that appeared on the Playstation and Saturn, and explain what each one of them are.
I'm kinda confused as to which are translations of previous games and which ones where actually new and stuff like that.
I know that there wasn't that many, but they still have me somewhat confused.
PSX Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (JPN: Akumajo Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight) - The "Metroidvania" game that reinvented the series. For better, or worse. Stunningly beautiful graphics and esp. music.
SAT Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight - Iffy JPN-only port of the PSX game with a bit of extra content. Pity about the slowdown and such.
PSX Castlevania Chronicles (JPN: Akumajo Nendaiki: Akumajo Dracula) - Very nicely done port of the obscure 1993 X68000 version of Castlevania. The game itself is pretty average.
N64 Castlevania - The first 3D Castlevania. I think it's a mediocre dud. It has its fans on certain hardcore Castlevania webboards, though. ;)
N64 Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - More of the above.
One note about Nocturne in the Moonlight -- it recently (late last year, I believe) recieved a reprint which is easily distinguished from the original by the new "ramen noodle company" style logo. Should be relatively easy to find, and is certainly much more attractive than the PSX The Best version (which I unfortunately own).
As for the Saturn port of NitM...the "and such" Ben refers to would be the complete lack of transparency, new areas that have nothing worthwhile inside them whatsoever, and poorly resized sprites (seems Konami had gotten lazy in reusing bitmap art at the time -- Metal Gear: Ghost Babel/Metal Gear Solid GBC uses a poorly resized Snake for the CODEC scenes). The ability to play as Maria is hardly a feature, especially after that horrible downsampling. As far as music goes...they've added yet more remixes of the classic tracks. I'm not quite sure if they're supposed to be good or bad.
The value of the U.S. release of Castlevania Chronicles has risen quite rapidly over the last year or two. Not long ago it could be had for $20-$30, but the highly limited number of copies found on the US version (around 20K copies as I'm told) have seen the price rise dramatically from its budget release price. Sealed copies are well on the way to $50 and above, for instance. The US version features FMV interviews not found on the Japanese version. I hear that the Original version of the game (which is supposedly a port of the x68K version) has a changed sound for Simon whipping, the same as that used in the remix mode. The original garnered a bunch of awards in 1993, but the new content is nothing to be excited about -- the CG intro and ending cutscenes are laughable indeed, and while Simon's inexplicably red haired character art cuts a dashing figure on the box front, this gives way to a pink haired, vaguely humanoid creature onscreen which I'm not sure is wholly uninspired by the Valis series. The remixed music will either drive you crazy or win you over -- perhaps both at once (I personally like them). Think Techno Castlevania (weren't the Dreamcast tracks supposed to cover that base..? Heh!).
As Ben notes, the Nintendo 64 Castlevania titles are an acquired taste, and even so they have shortcomings. The least of these is the uncertainty of the release schedule -- Legacy of Darkness is apparently what KCEK had in mind for a final release, but time constraints kept them from finishing the game as they had planned it originally. As Legacy of Darkness has the quests from the original game (but I'm hearing this secondhand -- I've played the first extensively but not the second) owning the original isn't essential to understanding the game. I have a lot of love for this game, even down to the wierd Frankenstein clone who was cut from the final version. Graphically...if you can appreciate Tenchu, you shouldn't mind this at all. Lines are rather sharp for the N64 and textures aren't too blurry, but the camera can become an issue (reportedly the camera got worse for LoD). A great many little nagging issues exist with the control (or the lack of it), the unimaginative melee based combat (subweapons are a joke, and the redundant sword or bracelet attacks from the original are merely present to occupy a button). With Legacy of Darkness, a major complaint is that uber-cool (heh) protagonist, Cornell, has the ability to morph into a werewolf, but this process is irreversible and WILL consume all your "hearts" (in this game, they're jewels --- jewels take many less polygons to render convincingly). All told, memories of this game leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling, but life certainly will go on if you never play this game. It does a commendable job for illustrating one neglected corner of Castlevania, a retreat from bad voice acting and item collecting in the stead of the original CV's pleasant horror movie pastiche.
Ben's got 'em all covered, but I wanted to add my thoughts -- hopefully they add up to something greater than two pennies. There's also a good number of non-PSX and non-Saturn 32 bit titles, and I can think of one on the PC (Castlevania & Contra Collector's Edition, emulated copies of the NES games), but that's not what you asked for so we'll leave that alone
Good hunting! I do recommend you check out the Castlevania Dungeon or Mr. P's Castlevania Realm -- both, in fact.
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